nature Poyson is that which worketh wholy vpon Nature without that that nature can in any part worke vpon it So in the minde whatsoeuer knowledge reason cannot at all worke vpon conuert is a meere intoxication and indangereth a dissolution of the minde vnderstanding But for the latter it hath beene extreamely set on foote of late time by the Schoole of Paracelsus and some others that haue pretended to finde the truth of all naturall Philosophy in the Scriptures scandalizing and traducing all other Philosophie as Heathenish and Prophane But there is noe such enmitie betweene Gods word and his workes Neither doe they giue honour to the Scriptures as they suppose but much imbase them For to seeke heauen and earth in the word of God Whereof it is saide Heauen and Earth shall passe but my worde shall not passe is to seeke temporary things amongst eternall And as to seeke Diuinitie in Philosophy is to seeke the liuing amongst the dead So to seeke Philosophy in Diuinitie is to seek the dead amongst the liuing Neither are the Pots or Lauers whose place was in the outward part of the Temple to be sought in the holiest place of all where the Arke of the testimonie was seated And againe the scope or purpose of the spirit of God is not to expresse matters of Nature in the Scriptures otherwise then in passage and for application to mans capacitie and to matters morall or Diuine And it is a true Rule Authoris aliud agentis parua authoritas For it were a strange conclusion if a man should vse a similitude for ornament or illustration sake borrowed from Nature or historie according to vulgar conceit as of a Basiliske an Vnicorne a Centaure a Briareus an Hydra or the like that therefore hee must needes bee thought to affirme the matter thereof positiuely to be true To conclude therefore these two Interpretations the one by reduction or Aenigmaticall the other Philosophicall or Phisicall which haue beene receiued and pursued in imitation of the Rabbins and Cabalists are to be confined with a Noli altum sapere sed time But the two later points knowne to God and vnknowne to Man touching the secrets of the heart and the successions of time doth make a iust and sound difference betweene the manner of the exposition of the Scriptures and all other bookes For it is an excellent obseruation which hath beene made vpon the answeres of our Sauiour Christ to many of the questions which were propounded to him how that they are impertinent to the state of the question demanded the reason whereof is because not being like man which knowes mans thoughts by his words but knowing mans thoughts immediately hee neuer answered their words but their thoughts much in the like manner it is with the Scriptures which being written to the thoughts of men and to the succession of all ages with a foresight of all heresies coatradictions differing estates of the Church yea and particularly of the elect are not to be interpreted only according to the latitude of the proper sense of the place and respectiuely towardes that present occasion whereupon the wordes were vttered or in precise congruitie or contexture with the wordes before or after or in contemplation of the principall scope of the place but haue in themselues not onely totally or collectiuely but distributiuely in clauses and wordes infinite springs and streames of doctrine to water the Church in euerie part and therefore as the literall sense is as it were the maine streame or Riuer So the Morall sense chiefely and sometimes the Allegoricall or Typicall are they whereof the Church hath most vse not that I wish men to be bold in Allegories or Indulgent or light in Allusions but that I doe much condemne that Interpretation of the Scripture which is onely after the manner as Men vse to interprete a prophane booke In this part touching the exposition of the Scriptures I can report noe deficience but by way of remembrance this I will adde In perusing Bookes of Diuinitie I finde many Bookes of controuersies and many of common places and treatises a masse of positiue Diuinitie as it is made an Arte a number of Sermons and Lectures and many prolixe commentaries vpon the Scriptures with harmonies and concordances but that forme of writing in Diuinitie which in my Iudgement is of all others most rich and precious is positiue Diuinitie collected vpon particular Texts of Scriptures in briefe obseruations not dilated into common places not chaseing after controuersies not reduced into Methode of Art a thing abounding in Sermons which will vanish but defectiue in Bookes which wil remaine and a thing wherin this age excelleth For I am perswaded and I may speake it with an Absit invidia verbo and no waies in derogation of Antiquitie but as in a good emulation betweene the vine and the oliue That if the choise and best of those obseruations vpon Texts of Scriptu◅es which haue beene made dispersedly in Sermons within this your Maiesties Ilands of Brittanie by the space of these fortie yeares and more leauing out the largenesse of exhortations and applications thereupon had beene set downe in a continuance it had beene the best worke in Diuinitie which had beene written since the Apostles times The matter informed by Diuinitie is of two kinds matter of beliefe and truth of opinion and matter of seruice and adoration which is also iudged and directed by the former The one being as the internall soule of Religion the other as the externall body thereof therfore the heathen Religion was not onely a worship of Idolls but the whole Religion was an Idoll in it selfe for it had noe soule that is no certaintie of belief or confession as a man may well thinke considering the chiefe Doctors of their Church were the Poets and the reason was because the heathen Gods were noe Iealous Gods but were glad to be admitted into part as they had reasō Neither did they respect the purenesse of hart so they mought haue externall honour and rites But out of these two doe result and issue foure maine branches of Diuinitie Faith Manners Lyturgie and Gouernment Faith containeth the Doctrine of the Nature of GOD of the attributes of GOD and of the workes of GOD The nature of GOD consisteth of three persons in vnitie of GOD-head The attributes of GOD are either common to the deitie or respectiue to the persons The workes of GOD summarie are two that of the Creation and that of the Redemption And both these workes as in Totall they appertaine to the vnitie of the God-head So in their parts they referre to the three persons That of the Creation in the Masse of the Matter to the father in the disposition of the forme to the Sonne and in the continuance and conseruation of the being to the Holy spirit So that of the Redemptiō in the election and counsell to the Father in the whole Act and consūmation to the
ordinances As in the lawe of the Leprousie where it is sayd If the whitenesse hauâ—… ouer spread the flâ—…sh the Patient may passe abroad for clean But if there be any whole flâ—…sh remayning he is to be shut vp for vncleane One of them noteth a principle of nature that putrefaction is more contagious before maturitie than after And another noteth a position of morall Philosophie that men abandoned to vice doe not so much corrupt manners as those that are halfe good and halfe euill so in this and verie many other places in that lawe there is to bee found besides the Theologicall sence much aspersion of Philosophie So likewise in that excellent Booke of Iob if it be reâ—…olued with diligence it will be found pregnant and swelling with naturall Philosophie as for example Cosmographie and the roundnesse of the world Qui extendit aquilonem super vacuum appendit terram super nihilum wherein the pensilenesse of the earth the pole of the North and the finitenesse or conuexitie of Heauen are manifestly touched So againe matter of Astronomie Spiritus eius ornauit coelos obstetricante manu eius eductus est coluber tortuosus And in another place Nunquid coniungere valebis micantes stellds pleyadas aut gyrum arcturi poteris dissipare where the fixing of the starres euer standing at equall distance is with great elegancie noted And in another place Qui faâ—…arcturum â—…ona hyadas interiora austri where againe hee takes knowledge of the depression of the Southerne pole calling it the secrets of the South because the southerne starres were in that climate vnseene Matter of generation Annon si ut lac mulsisti me sicut caseum coagulasti me c. Matter of Mynerals Habet argentum venarum suarum principia aurolocus est in quo conâ—…latur ferrâ—…m de tâ—…rra tollitur lapis solutus calore in 〈◊〉 vertiâ—…r and so forwards in that Chapter So likewise in the person of Salomon the King wee see the guist or endowment of wisedome and learning both in Salomons petition and in Gods assent thereunto preferred before all other terrene and temporall selicitie By vertue of which grant or donatiue of God Salomon became inabled not onely to write those excellent Parables or Aphorismes concerning diuine and morall Philosophie but also to compile a naturall Historie of all verdor from the Cedar vpon the Mountaine to the mosse vppon the wall which is but a rudiment betweene putrefaction and an hearbe and also of all things that breath or moone Nay the same Salomon the King although he excelled in the glorie of treasure and magnificent buildings of shipping and Nauigation of seruice and attendance of same and renowne and the like yet hee maketh no claime to any of those glories but onely to the glorie of Inquisition of truth for so he sayth expressely The glorie of God is to conceale a thing But the glorie of the King is to find it out as if according to the innocent play of Children the diuine Maiestie tooke delight to hide his workes to the end to haue them sound out and as if Kinges could not obtaine a greater honour than to bee Gods play-fellowes in that game considering the great commaundement of wits and meanes whereby nothing needeth to be hidden from them Neither did the dispensation of God varie in the times after our Sauiour came into the world for our Sauiour himselfe did first shew his power to subdue ignorance by his conference with the Priests and Doctors of the lawe before he shewed his power to subdue nature by his miracles And the comming of the holy spirite was chiefely figured and expressed in the similitude and guist of tongues which are but Vehicula scientiae So in the election of those Instruments which it pleased God to vse for the plantation of the faith notwithstanding that at the first hedid employ persons altogether vnlearned otherwise than by inspiration more euidently to declare his immediate working and to abbase all humane wisedome or knowledge yet neuerthelesse that Counsell of his was no sooner perfourmed but in the next vicissitude and succession he did send his diuine truth into the world wayted on with other Learnings as with Seruants or Handmaides For so we see Saint Paule who was only learned amongst the Apostles had his penne most vsed in the scriptures of the new Testament So againe we finde that many of the ancient Bishops and Father of the Church were excellently redde studied in all the learning of the Heathen insomuch that the Edict of the Emperour Iulianus whereby it was interdicted vnto Christians to bee admitted into Schooles Lectures or exercises of learning was esteemed and accounted a more pernitious engine and machination against the Christian faith than were all the sanguinarie prosecutions of his Predecessors Neither could the emulation and Iealousie of Gregorie the first of that name Bishop of Rome euer obtaine the opinion of pietie or deuotion but contrarywise receiued the censure of humour malignitie and pusillanimitie euen amongst holy men in that he designed to obliterate and extinguish the memorie of Heathen antiquitie and Authors But contrarewise it was the Christian Church which amidst the inundations of the Scythians on the one side from the Northwest and the Saracens from the East did preserue in the sacred lappe and bosome thereof the pretious Reliques euen of Heathen Learning which otherwise had beene extinguished as if no such thing had euer beene And wee see before our eyes that in the age of our selues and our Fathers when it pleased God to call the Church of Rome to account for their degenerate manners and ceremonies and sundrie doctrines obnoxious and framed to vphold the same abuses At one and the same time it was ordayned by the diuine prouidence that there should attend withall a renouation and new spring of all other knowledges And on the other side we see the Iesuites who partly in themselues and partly by the emulation and prouocation of their example haue much quickned and strengthned the state of Learning we see Isay what notable seruice and reparation they haue done to the Romane Sea Wherefore to conclude this part let it bee obserued that there be two principall duties and seruices besides ornament illustration which Philosophie and humane learning doe perfourme to faith and Religion The one because they are an effectuall inducement to the exaltation of the glory of God For as the Psalmes and other Scriptures doe often inuite vs to consider and magnifie the great and wonderfull workes of God so if we should rest onely in the contemplation of the exterior of them as they first offer themselues to our sences we should do a like iniurie vnto the Maiestie of God as if wee should iudge or construe of the store of some excellent Ieweller by that onely which is set out toward the streete in his shoppe The other because they minister a singuler helpe and preseruatiue against
Swannes which if they got a Name would carrie it to a Temple where it was consecrate And although many men more mortall in their affections then in their bodies doe esteeme desire of name and memory but as a vanitie and ventositie Animi nil magnaelaudis egentes Which opinion commeth from that Root Non prius laudes contempsimus quam laâ—…danda facere desivimus yet that will not alter Salomons iudgement Memoria Iusti cum laudibus at impioruÌ„ nomeÌ„ putresect The one flourisheth the other either coÌ„sumeth to preseÌ„t obliuion or turneth to an ill odor And therefore in that stile or addition which is hath bin long well receiued and brought in vse Faeticis memoriae piae memoriae bonae memoriae we do acknowledge that which Cicero saith borrowing it froÌ„ Demosthenes that Bona Fama propria possessio defunctorum which possession I caÌ„not but note that in our times it lieth much wast and that therein there is a Deficience For NARRATIONS and RELATIONS of particular actions there were also to be wished a greater diligence therein for there is no great action but hath some good penne which attends it And because it is an abilitie not common to Write a good History as may well appeare by the small number of them yet if particularitie of actions memorable were but tolerably reported as they passe the compiling of a complete HISTORIE of TIMES mought be the better expected when a Writer should arise that were fit for its for the collection of such relations mought be as a Nursery gardein whereby to plant a faire and stately gardein when time should serue There is yet another portion of Historie which Cornelius Tacitus maketh which is not to be forgotteÌ„ specially with that application which hee accoupleth it withal ANNALS and IOVRNALS appropriating to the former Matters of estate and to the later Acts and Accidents of a meaner Nature For giuing but a touch of certaine Magnificent Buildings he addeth Cumex dignitate populi Romani repertum sit res illustres annalibus talia diurnis vrbis Actis mandare So as there is a kinde of contemplatiue Heraldry as well as Ciuill And as nothing doth derogate from the dignitie of a state more then confusion of degrees So it doth not a little imbase the Authoritie of an Historie to intermingle matters of triumph or matters of ceremony or matters of Noueltie with matters of State But the vse of a IOVRNALL hath not onely been in the Historie of Time but like wise in the Historie of PersoÌ„s and chiefely of actions for Princes in ancient time had vpon point of honour and policie both Iournalls kept what passed day by day for we see the Chronicle which was red before Abassuerus when he could not take rest contained matter of affaires indeede but such as had passed in his own time and very lately before But the IOVRNALL of Alexanders house expressed euery small particularitie euen concerning his Person and Court and it is yet an vse wel receiued in enterprises memorable as expeditions of Warre Nauigations and the like to keepe Dyaries of that which passeth continually I cannot likewise bee ignorant of a forme of Writing which some graue and wise men haue vsed containing a scattered History of those actions which they haue thought worthy of memorie with politique discourse and obseruation thereupon not incorporate into the History but seperately and as the more principall in their intentioÌ„ Which kind of RVMINATED HISTORY I thinke more fit to place amongst Bookes of policie whereof we shall hereafter speake then amongst Bookes of History for it is the true office of History to represent the euents themselues together with the counsels and to leaue the obseruations and conclusions thereupon to the liberty and facultie of euery mans iudgement But Mixtures are things irregular whereof no man can define So also is there another kinde of History manifoldly mixt and that is HISTORY of COSMOGRAPHY being compounded of Naturall History in respect of the Regions themselues of History ciuill in respect of the Habitations Regiments and Manners of the people and the Mathematiques in respect of the Climats and configurations towards the Heauens which part of learning of all others in this latter time hath obtained most Proficience For it may be truly affirmed to the honor of these times and in a vertuous emulation with Antiquitie that this great Building of the world had neuer through lights made in it till the age of vs and our fathers For although they had knowledge of the Antipodes Nosque vbi primus equis Oriens afflauit anhelis Illic sera rubens acceÌ„dit lumina vesper yet that mought be by demonstration and not in fact and if by trauaile it requireth the voiage but of halfe the Globe But to circle the Earth as the heauenly Bodies doe was not done nor enterprised till these later times And therefore these times may iustly beare in their word not onely Plus vltrà in precedence of the ancient Non vltrà and Imitabile fulmen in precedence of the ancient Non imitabile fulmen Demens qui nymbos et non imitabile fulmen c. But likewise Imitabile Caelum in respect of the many memorable voyages after the maner of heaueÌ„ about the globe of the earth And this Proficience in Nauigation and discoueries may plant also an expectation of the â—…urder proficience and augmentation of all Scyences because it may seeme they are ordained by God to be Coevalls that is to meete in one Age. For so the Prophet Daniel speaking of the latter times foretelleth Plurimi pertransibunt Multiplex erit Scientia as if the opennesse and through passage of the world and the encrease of knowledge were appointed to be in the same ages as we see it is already performed in great part the learning of these later times not much giuing place to the former two Periods or Returnes of learning the one of the Graecians the other of the Romanes HISTORY ECCLSIASTICAL receiueth the same diuisions with History ciuil but furder in the proprietie thereof may bee deuided into HISTORY of the CHVRCH by a general name HISTORY of PROPHECIE HISTORIE of PROVIDENCE The first describeth the times of the militant Church whether it be fluctuaÌ„t as the Arke of Noah or moueable as the Arke in the Wildernes or at rest as the Arke in the Temple That is the state of the Church in Persecution in Remoue and in Peace This part I ought in no sort to note as deficient onely I would the vertue and sinceritie of it were according to the Masse and quantitie But I am not now in hand with censures but with omissions The second which is HISTORY of PROPHECIE consisteth of two Relatiues the Prophecie and the accomplishment and therefore the nature of such a worke ought to be that euery prophecie of the Scripture be sorted with the euent fulfilling the same throughout the ages of the world both for the better confirmation of
faith and for the better illumination of the Church touching those parts of Prophecies which are yet vnfulfilled allowing neuerthelesse that Latitude which is agreable and familiar vnto diuine Prophecies being of the nature of their Author with whom a thousande yeares are but as one day and therefore are not fulfilled punctually at once but haue springing and germinant accomplishment throughout many ages though the height or fulnesse of them may referre to some one age This is a worke which I finde deficient but is to bee done with wisedom sobrietie and reuerence or not at all The third which is HISTORY of PROVIDENCE containeth that excellēt correspondence which is betweene Gods reuealed will and his secret will which though it be so obscure as for the most part it is not legible to the Naturall Man no nor many times to those that behold it from the Tabernacle yet at some times it pleaseth God for our better establishment and the confuting of those which are as without God in the world to write it in such Text and Capitall Letters that as the Prophet saith He that runneth by may read it that is meere sensual persons which hasten by Gods iudgements and neuer bend or fixe their cogitations vpon them are neuerthelesse in their passage and race vrged to discerne it Such are the notable euents and examples of Gods iudgements chastizements deliuerances and blessings And this is a work which hath passed through the labour of many and therefore I cannot present as omitted There are also other parts of learning which are APPENDICES to HISTORY for al the exterior proceedings of man consist of Wordes and Deeds whereof History doth properly receiue and retaine in Memory the Deedes and if Wordes yet but as Inducements and passages to Deedes So are there other Books and Writings which are appropriat to the custodie and receite of Wordes onely which likewise are of three sorts ORATIONS LETTERS BRIEFE SPEECHES or SAYINGS ORATIONS are pleadings speeches of counsell Laudatiues Inuectiues Apologies Reprehensions Orations of Formalitie or Ceremonie and the like Letters are according to all the varietie of occasions Aduertisments Aduises Directions Propositions Peticions Commendatorie Expostulatorie Satisfactorie of complement of Pleasure of Discourse and all other passages of Action And such as are written from wise men are of all the words of Man in my iudgement the best for they are more Naturall then Orations and publike speeches more aduised then cōferences or present speeches So againe Letters of Affaires from such as Manage them or are priuie to them are of all others the best instructions for History and to a diligent reader the best Histories in themselues For APOTHEGMES It is a great losse of that Booke of Caesars For as his History and those fewe Letters of his which wee haue and those Apothegmes which were of his owne excell all mens else So I suppose would his collection of APOTHEGMES haue done For as for those which are collected by others either I haue no tast in such Matters or else their choice hath not beene happie But vpon these three kindes of Writings I doe not insist because I haue no deficiēces to propound concerning them Thus much therefore concerning History which is that part of learning which answereth to one of the Celles Domiciles or offices of the Mind of Man which is that of the Memorie POESIE is a part of Learning in measure of words for the most part restrained but in all other points extreamely licensed and doth truly referre to the Imagination which beeing not tyed to the Lawes of Matter may at pleasure ioyne that which Nature hath seuered seuer that which Nature hath ioyned and so make vnlawfull Matches diuorses of things Pictoribus atque Poetis c. It is taken in two senses in respect of Wordes or Matter In the first sense it is but a Character of stile and belongeth to Arts of speeche and is not pertinent for the present In the later it is as hath beene saide one of the principalll Portions of learning and is nothing else but FAINED HISTORY which may be stiled as well in Prose as in Verse The vse of this FAINED HISTORIE hath beene to giue some shadowe of satisfaction to the minde of Man in those points wherein the Nature of things doth denie it the world being in proportion inferiour to the soule by reason whereof there is agreeable to the spirit of Man a more ample Greatnesse a more exact Goodnesse and a more absolute varietie then can bee found in the Nature of things Therefore because the Acts or Euents of true Historie haue not that Magnitude which satisfieth the minde of Man Poesie saineth Acts and Euents Greater and more Heroicall because true Historie propoundeth the successes and issues of actions not so agreable to the merits of Vertue and Vice therefore Poesie faines them more iust in Retribution and more according to Reuealed Prouidence because true Historie representeth Actions and Euents more ordinarie and lesse interchanged therefore Poesie endueth them with more Rarenesse and more vnexpected and alternatiue Variations So as it appeareth that Poesie serueth and conferreth to Magnanimitie Moralitie and to delectation And therefore it was euer thought to haue some participation of diuinesse because it doth raise and erect the Minde by submitting the shewes of things to the desires of the Mind whereas reason doth buckle and bowe the Mind vnto the Nature of things And we see that by these insinuations and congruities with mans Nature and pleasure ioyned also with the agreement and consort it hath with Musicke it hath had accesse and estimation in rude times and barbarous Regions where other learning stoode excluded The diuisiō of Poesie which is aptest in the proprietie therof besides those diuisiōs which are cōmon vnto it with history as fained Chronicles fained liues the Appēdices of History as fained Epistles fained Orations and the rest is into POESIE NARRATIVE REPRESENTATIVE and ALLVSIVE The NARRATIVE is a meere imitation of History with the excesses before remembred Ohoosing for subiect cōmonly Warrs and Loue rarely State and sometimes Pleasure or Mirth REPRESENTATIVE is as a visible History and is an Image of Actions as if they were present as History is of actions in nature as they are that is past ALLVSIVE or PARABOLICALL is a NARRTION applied onely to expresse some speciall purpose or conceit Which later kind of Parabolical wisedome was much more in vse in the ancient times as by the Fables of Aesope and the briefe sentences of the seuen and the vse of Hieroglyphikes may appeare And the cause was for that it was then of necessitie to expresse any point of reason which was more sharpe or subtile then the vulgar in that maner because men in those times wanted both varietie of examples and subtiltie of conceit And as Hierogliphikes were before Letters so parables were before arguments And neuerthelesse now and at all times they doe retaine much life and vigor